The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has clarified the rules related to voluntary retirement under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Over the last few months, the Centre has been trying to ease rules and bring more clarity with respect to the UPS. The deadline for opting for UPS for central government employees is November 30, 2025.
Meanwhile, the government has notified the Central Civil Services (Implementation of Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2025, to govern the service-related matters of central government civil employees covered under the UPS.
The UPS was brought to cover around 23 lakh central government civil employees, covered under the NPS as of April 1, 2025. The UPS doesn’t cover other government employees or those outside of the NPS framework for central service.
Employees’ entitlement on VRS under UPS
Under the UPS, an employee is allowed to take a voluntary retirement from the government service after serving for 20 years and a notice period of minimum 3 months.
“Rule 13 of these rules provides for voluntary retirement from service and entitlement on voluntary retirement from government service in respect of a central government servant opted for UPS under the NPS. The rule provides that at any time after a subscriber has completed twenty years regular service, he may, by giving notice of not less than three months in writing to the appointing authority, retire from the service,” the DoPPW said in an Office Memorandum (OM).
What happens if the notice is not accepted by the appointing authority
The notice of voluntary retirement given under sub-rule (1) shall require acceptance by the appointing authority, according to DoPPW, which comes under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
“However, where the appointing authority does not refuse to grant the permission for retirement before the expiry of the period specified in the said notice, the retirement shall become effective from the date of expiry of the said period,” it further clarifies.
What if the employee wants to serve a notice period of less than 3 months
The government servant may request in writing to the appointing authority to accept notice of voluntary retirement of less than three months, giving reasons therefore. The appointing authority, on receipt of such a request, may consider the request for curtailment of the period of notice of three months on merits, and if it is satisfied that the curtailment of the period of notice will not cause any administrative inconvenience, the appointing authority may relax the requirement of notice of three months.
The government servant, who has chosen to retire under this rule and has given the necessary notice to that effect to the appointing authority, shall be precluded from withdrawing his notice except with the specific approval of such authority, the OM said.
However, the withdrawal request shall be made at least fifteen days before the intended date of his retirement, it added.
This rule, however, will not apply to a subscriber who retires under the special voluntary retirement scheme of the Department of Personnel and Training relating to voluntary retirement of surplus employees.
This rule will also not impact retirees from government service for being absorbed in an autonomous body or a public sector undertaking.
“The subscriber, on voluntary retirement from service before completion of twenty-five years of qualifying service, shall be entitled to pro-rata assured payout admissible under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025,” the office memorandum.
“The subscriber, on voluntary retirement from service on or after completion of twenty-five years of qualifying service, shall be entitled to full assured payout admissible under the PFRDA (Operationalisation of UPS under NPS) Regulations, 2025,” it added.
The government has directed all ministries/departments that the above provisions regarding entitlement on voluntary retirement from government service in respect of a central government servant opted for UPS under NPS can be brought to the notice of the personnel dealing with the UPS / NPS matters of employees in the ministry/department and attached/subordinate offices thereunder, for strict implementation.